Light stands as background stand?

[Deleted member 41401]

Hi, I have a couple of Calumet heavy duty lighting stands and was wondering if they could be used as a background stand if I just get a support bar, rather than forking out for a complete dedicated background support kit. The bar costs £45 as opposed to £160 for the full rig. I understand that I will be missing the screws or butterfly screws that secure the bar to the uprights, but it is only for very occasional studio use at low heights (7ft ish)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Graham W]

That's what I use. As long as the stands and bar are compatible, strong enough and have a decent sized footprint.

 

[Deleted member 41401]

Cheers Graham. Yes, I'm pretty sure that they are. The light stands are these... https://www.calphoto.co.uk/product/Calumet-13.5-4.1m-Air-Cushioned-Light-Stand/MF6065
and the bar is this ... https://www.calphoto.co.uk/product/Calumet-Heavy-Duty-Background-Support-Bar-ONLY/MF6096

 

[boyfalldown]

That would work, FWIW I do exactly the same but use this cross piece https://www.calphoto.co.uk/product/Manfrotto-272-Black-Background-Support-3-Section/MN272B. Its strong enough to support a vinyl of a velvet background at full length

 

[Deleted member 41401]

Cheers Hugh. Appreciate you commenting.

 

[Scooter]

Most cross bars come with the butterfly bolts to secure them to a standard spigot too. I use two heavy stands and a background cross bar to support up to two 3kg Lencarta SF600s for overhead lighting (on superclamps). The actual background support stands I have holding up my grey vinyl backdrop don't look any different to light stands tbh

 

[Deleted member 41401]

Thanks for that Scooter. Gonna pick up the Calumet bar today.